Each Bodypart Once or Twice per week for gaining muscle/bulk?

[Dru]

Just curious if its better to do one body part a week or twice a week for gaining muscle/ bulking? Currently i do
Monday- Chest
Tues- Back, Bis
Wednesday-Off
Thurs-Tris and Shoulders
Fri- Legs (been working out for 2 years and just realized i have to start workin them out after being called "chicken legs" lol)
Sat and Sunday are both off days.

Any suggestions?

im 5'9-5'10, 19 years old, 155 pounds, finally startin to gain slowly after losing almost 40 pounds within a period of 6-7 monthes. Winter is comming and i would LOVE to get to 190-200lbs of mostly muscle with as little fat as possible by the end of June. Currently taking a weightgainer and eating healthy with the occasional beer (helps me sleep and i read 1 a day is fine health wise).

[suncloud]

depends on what your body can handle. compound moves are the way to go for sure. just make sure legs get 72 hours off before working them again. also if you're working out chest for example twice a week, do one day with barbells, and one day with dumbells. don't go in and do the exact routine you did two or three days ago. hope this helps.

[mDeezy]

I tend not to think about it as how many times I work a bodypart per week, but just to start over at bodypart number one after I finish the rest. For example,

Day 1- Chest, Abs
Day 2- Back
Day 3- Legs, Abs
Day 4- Arms
Day 5- Shoulders, Abs
Day 6- Off
Day 7- Chest, Abs
etc.

So sometimes you will be doing chest twice in one week, sometimes back, and so forth.

Also, if I were trying to gain 40 lbs. of muscle in 8 months, I would definitely not take 3 days off per week.

[nolinenowait]

I see better results the more I train the muscle. Remember just because a bodypart is sore doesn't mean it can't be trained. I'd hit each muscle twice a week, or at least the ones you think are lagging.

[pmiller383]

Why not give something like a Push Pull routine a try?
Monday Push
Tuesday Pull
Thursday Push
Friday Pull
Wednesday-Saturday-Sunday = Off or light cardio, mobility work, etc.

Each session change your movements for example
Monday Push = Squat, Shoulder Press, Dips, Incline Presses
Tuesday Pull - Rows - Straight Leg Dead Lifts - Pull-ups - curls
Thursday Push = Bench - Front Raises - Lunges - calf raise
Friday pull - Rack deadlifts - Good Morning's - Lat pull-downs - Shrugs
Throw abs in at the end of a couple of the workouts and you are all set to gain some meat.

[Dru]

thanks alot for the feedback guys

[RenegadeRows]

Why not give something like a Push Pull routine a try?
Monday Push
Tuesday Pull
Thursday Push
Friday Pull
Wednesday-Saturday-Sunday = Off or light cardio, mobility work, etc.

Each session change your movements for example
Monday Push = Squat, Shoulder Press, Dips, Incline Presses
Tuesday Pull - Rows - Straight Leg Dead Lifts - Pull-ups - curls
Thursday Push = Bench - Front Raises - Lunges - calf raise
Friday pull - Rack deadlifts - Good Morning's - Lat pull-downs - Shrugs
Throw abs in at the end of a couple of the workouts and you are all set to gain some meat.

Great routine!

[dice404]

Also, if I were trying to gain 40 lbs. of muscle in 8 months, I would definitely not take 3 days off per week.

Remember, you grow on your off days. In my opinion, as long as you hit it very hard when you're in the gym, I see no problem with 3 off days. I train monday, wensday, and friday and train each muscle once per week. I cram a lot of volume into each one hour long workout. For me, each of my four off days are much needed. I've been having great results with this too btw.

[motive]

im a big fan of that push pull workout posted up there, but really its all about taking time to find what works for you.

[DBinMD]

IMO, it’s more about the intensity of the wo, especially the weight used. As you get stronger, even though your body is adapting, it still takes longer to recover. So if you’re a newbie you can train each body part 2 or 3 times a week. As you approach your genetic potential you’ll probably need to cut back to 1x.

[Dizmal]

depends on what your body can handle. compound moves are the way to go for sure. just make sure legs get 72 hours off before working them again. also if you're working out chest for example twice a week, do one day with barbells, and one day with dumbells. don't go in and do the exact routine you did two or three days ago. hope this helps.

So, how is anyone supposed to perform a 5x5 routine with keeping legs workouts 72 hours imbetween?

Curious as I'm using 5x5 now for the last 2 weeks, I've been able to up my poundage on the squats by 5lbs each workout. So far...

My legs were screaming after teh first workout and during the second, but I still powered through it with the extra 5lbs and have been fine since. But I've been eating to grow

[suncloud]

So, how is anyone supposed to perform a 5x5 routine with keeping legs workouts 72 hours imbetween?

Curious as I'm using 5x5 now for the last 2 weeks, I've been able to up my poundage on the squats by 5lbs each workout. So far...

My legs were screaming after teh first workout and during the second, but I still powered through it with the extra 5lbs and have been fine since. But I've been eating to grow

hrm. perhaps i should have explained this better. using dru's template for working out i.e. picking a body part to demolish for the day, that you can't work out your legs twice in the same week with at least 72 hours of break.

the 5x5 system works on different principles. you do one workout for legs. that being said, you can work them out every other day once you become used to it. i'm sure you remember the first time you tried 5x5 and you couldn't walk in 48 hours later and do one of your body parts. but you get used to it, and recovery speeds up.

however, you can't do the standard 4x10 squats, 4x10 hack squats, sled, SLDL, etc and try them again without a 72 hour break. if you can do those and recover faster, odds are you aren't trying hard enough. though some rare few could recover faster than that.

[crazyfool405]

I tend not to think about it as how many times I work a bodypart per week, but just to start over at bodypart number one after I finish the rest. For example,

Day 1- Chest, Abs
Day 2- Back
Day 3- Legs, Abs
Day 4- Arms
Day 5- Shoulders, Abs
Day 6- Off
Day 7- Chest, Abs
etc.

So sometimes you will be doing chest twice in one week, sometimes back, and so forth.

Also, if I were trying to gain 40 lbs. of muscle in 8 months, I would definitely not take 3 days off per week.

more you rest the more you grow...... and taking one day off a week in most peoples cases could lead to over training.

[Dizmal]

hrm. perhaps i should have explained this better. using dru's template for working out i.e. picking a body part to demolish for the day, that you can't work out your legs twice in the same week with at least 72 hours of break.

the 5x5 system works on different principles. you do one workout for legs. that being said, you can work them out every other day once you become used to it. i'm sure you remember the first time you tried 5x5 and you couldn't walk in 48 hours later and do one of your body parts. but you get used to it, and recovery speeds up.

however, you can't do the standard 4x10 squats, 4x10 hack squats, sled, SLDL, etc and try them again without a 72 hour break. if you can do those and recover faster, odds are you aren't trying hard enough. though some rare few could recover faster than that.

Ah! Gotcha, thanks for the clarification on that.

[mDeezy]

more you rest the more you grow...... and taking one day off a week in most peoples cases could lead to over training.

well then by your theory he should just train full body once a week and then rest 6 days.

i completely disagree. if your nutrition is on point and you are getting 7 or more hours of quality sleep a night, training 5-6 days a week will not lead to over training. yes off days are important, but the real "rest" is the time between lifting the same muscle group- which could be as many as 5 days.

[fast1]

Why not give something like a Push Pull routine a try?
Monday Push
Tuesday Pull
Thursday Push
Friday Pull
Wednesday-Saturday-Sunday = Off or light cardio, mobility work, etc.

Each session change your movements for example
Monday Push = Squat, Shoulder Press, Dips, Incline Presses
Tuesday Pull - Rows - Straight Leg Dead Lifts - Pull-ups - curls
Thursday Push = Bench - Front Raises - Lunges - calf raise
Friday pull - Rack deadlifts - Good Morning's - Lat pull-downs - Shrugs
Throw abs in at the end of a couple of the workouts and you are all set to gain some meat.

it's going to be trial and error, but this is a good start!

[Orangepeel]

I think the first step is to set your goals to something more attainable, its good to have high goals but making you goal, to gain 45lbs of pure muscle in 8 months is just setting yourself up for failure. Weightlifting is a marathon not a sprint, stick with it and it will come.

[Resolve]

Going from 155 to 200 by next june is attainable, but you're not going to be lean if you do that - you are going to be chubby. 45lbs of muscle in 9months is INCREDIBLY difficult without the help of anabolics, which you should certainly not be touching at Nineteen.

Try a full body routine, mostly compound movements with some isolation work thrown in for your weak spots, 3 times a week with undulating periodization.

Worked for me - gained 45lbs of muscle in 18months, naturally, and that is a fair bit in realistic terms of muscle growth.

[Cerberus]

How strong are you in the bench, deadlift, squat, and chin-ups? Body part splits are insufficient imo and ime w/ clients. Drugged athletics can get away with anything, and thats what's thrown around in the media.

If you are weak (I'm going to assume you are) you should imo work with a full body split 3x / week. Once you get to certain strength levels, move to a upper/lower split, or a push/pull split.

Detail your diet for us.

[Orangepeel]

Going from 155 to 200 by next june is attainable, but you're not going to be lean if you do that - you are going to be chubby. 45lbs of muscle in 9months is INCREDIBLY difficult without the help of anabolics, which you should certainly not be touching at Nineteen.

Try a full body routine, mostly compound movements with some isolation work thrown in for your weak spots, 3 times a week with undulating periodization.

Worked for me - gained 45lbs of muscle in 18months, naturally, and that is a fair bit in realistic terms of muscle growth.

Hell yeah 45lbs is doable in 9months, I could do it in much less than 9months, but I certainly wouldn't be lean thats for sure.